After ages dilly-dallying over replacing my existing XP operating system, I finally replaced it with Ubuntu last weekend. Though I am fairly comfortable working on Unix environments, this is my first experience with a Linux desktop. The Ubuntu community seems very active, so finding workarounds for issues has been trivial. My main reactions to a primarily smooth first week, in no particular order:
- The OS install took 15 minutes. 15 minutes!!! That was shock enough for someone used to Windows installs taking ten times that amount.
- Shutting down and rebooting the system are very quick processes in comparison, taking almost as long as it took to hibernate on Windows!
- On the other hand, my one attempt at hibernating on Linux didn’t turn out so well.
- Having OpenOffice installed as part of the OS install is a nice, unexpected bonus.
- The wireless adapter has already started getting on my nerves. First off, I had to actually type in my router name by hand, and not have to select from a list. Secondly, and this is the really annoying bit, the wireless adapter loses connectivity with the wireless router periodically. When this occurs, I have to type out the router and password details for it to connect – why can’t this information be saved? And sometimes, even this doesn’t work and I actually have to reboot!
- Being able to run commands like ‘find’ on the native OS gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
- The ability to be redside on the internet while having my Windows virtual vpn’ed into the corporate network is a HUGE plus.
- The virtual does run quite slowly at times – though I doubt that has anything to do with the host.
On the whole, am looking forward to learning cool tips and tricks to get much more out of my Ubuntu experience!
Rags to Rooks 